S Srinivas (popularly known as Bonsai Srinivas), seeks legal help to save the 1,000-Odd Plants he had gifted to the Botanical Garden in 2002. In 2002, as S Srinivas packed his bags to shift to the US, he had only one worry: Finding a home for his prized bonsai garden of 1,000 plants. Finally, he decided that the best place would be Lalbagh, where he was sure that trained gardeners would tend to them.

He returned to India in 2006 after an accident in the US, and was shocked to see the condition of his plants. Ever since, he’s been fighting for the upkeep of his little park. No honorarium was paid to him from July 2006, as stipulated under his agreement with Lalbagh, and neither was an MoU signed by the department.

Srinivas said the department had agreed to name the garden after his father Seetharam and mother Ratnamma. But over a decade later, the park has neither been named nor inaugurated.

“Because of their antique value, each plant in the garden costs Rs 8-10 lakh. I fear my plants have been illegally sold; the inventory appears goofed up. The park has less than 500 plants today,’’ he says.

According to property research firm Liases Foras, home sales bounced back in the December quarter.Property prices, however, grew an average 1 percent quarter-on-quarter in the top six cities, continuing a trend of marginal growth that has been on for six quarters now.

When new launches saw a 14 percent decline in the quarter and economic slowdown along with the uncertainty due to the upcoming elections pushed sales down, Developers offered discounts—waiver of stamp duty and registration fees, broker or agent’s bills, foreign trip, car, freebies like air conditioners, furnishings and modular kitchens— worth lakhs of rupee.

Image Courtesy:economictimes

Bangalore posted the biggest gain with home sales growing 58 percent over a year ago between October and December. The National Capital Region (NCR) registered the smallest gain of 4 percent among the top six cities. Home sales in Pune rose 48 percent while those in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) were up 26 percent.